Craving chocolates and making us cranky are only a few visible effects of menstruation, it affects our body in a lot many ways that stay hidden but have a huge impact in later stages. It is not only those 5 days of periods that affect our health but our whole menstruation cycle of 28 days. So instead of letting your cycle control your body and its health, you can take control of it in your own hands too.
There are four basic stages of the cycle and here are tips for each of the stages:
1. MENSTRUATION
Diet:
Have strawberry, spinach, broccoli, tomato, citrus fruits, red meat, etc to replenish iron. Fish, turmeric, ginger and berries for fighting pain and inflammation.
Exercise:
mild exercise like yoga and bit of stretching etc can boost your mood and also relieve you of pain.
Sleep:
Hormonal changes also disrupt your sleep, it would be better to keep the atmosphere of your room cosy and sleep in early.
2. FOLLICULAR PHASE
Diet:
This is the stage of hormone production and ovulation, support it by having avocado, wild salmon, walnut, coconut oil, Greek yogurt, almonds, etc.
Exercise:
Due to the high level of estrogen in the body, you have more energy at this time and thus more prone to injuries, try to do a bit of stretching before exercising.
Sleep:
Hormones and body temperature normalises after menstruation so there are no problems in sleeping. However, having a good 8 hours sleep is healthy for the body.
3. OVULATION
Diet:
Balance out your hormones with chick peas, beans, dry fruits, flax seeds, etc
Exercise:
Be gentle on yourself, too much exercise can make you weird. Do some mild exercising to maintain the mood and balance.
Sleep:
You might feel more sleepy and thus need more nap due to dropping in estrogen and hike in progesterone.
4. LUTEAL PHASE
Diet:
You might crave energy rich food, so include food items like avocado, nuts, fish, etc in your diet to get healthy fats.
Exercise:
Your body is running hot so you can take it out by exercising. try to have short sessions of an intense workout.
Sleep:
You might feel sleepy for the first few days but the last three days you might have some problem in sleeping due to hormonal changes disrupting sleep.